Assessing the Summer Water Budget of a Moulin Basin in the Sermeq Avannarleq Ablation Region, Greenland Ice Sheet

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Assessing the Summer Water Budget of a Moulin Basin in the Sermeq Avannarleq Ablation Region, Greenland Ice Sheet 954 Journal of Glaciology, Vol. 57, No. 205, 2011 Assessing the summer water budget of a moulin basin in the Sermeq Avannarleq ablation region, Greenland ice sheet Daniel McGRATH,1 William COLGAN,1 Konrad STEFFEN,1 Phillip LAUFFENBURGER,2 James BALOG3 1Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0216, USA E-mail: [email protected] 2Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0429, USA 3Extreme Ice Survey, 1435 Yarmouth Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80304-4338, USA ABSTRACT. We provide an assessment of the supraglacial water budget of a moulin basin on the western margin of the Greenland ice sheet for 15 days in August 2009. Meltwater production, the dominant input term to the 1.14 Æ 0.06 km2 basin, was determined from in situ ablation measurements. The dominant water-output terms from the basin, accounting for 52% and 48% of output, respectively, were moulin discharge and drainage into crevasses. Moulin discharge exhibits large diurnal variability (0.017–0.54 m3 s–1) with a distinct late-afternoon peak at 16:45 local time. This lags peak meltwater production by 2.8 Æ 4.2 hours. An Extreme Ice Survey time-lapse photography sequence complements the observations of moulin discharge. We infer, from in situ observations of moulin geometry, previously published borehole water heights and estimates of the temporal lag between meltwater production and observed local ice surface uplift (‘jacking’), that the transfer of surface meltwater to the englacial water table via moulins is nearly instantaneous (<30 min). We employ a simple crevasse mass-balance model to demonstrate that crevasse drainage could significantly dampen the surface meltwater fluctuations reaching the englacial system in comparison to moulin discharge. Thus, unlike crevasses, moulins propagate meltwater pulses to the englacial system that are capable of overwhelming subglacial transmission capacity, resulting in enhanced basal sliding. 1. INTRODUCTION glacier, resulting in surface uplift interpreted as bed separ- The Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) is currently losing 200– ation. This process reduces basal friction and increases basal 250 Gt a–1 of ice through a combination of an increasingly sliding velocities (Iken and others, 1983; Willis and others, negative surface mass balance and enhanced ice discharge 1996; Anderson and others, 2004; Bartholomaus and others, from major outlet glaciers (Hanna and others, 2008; Thomas 2008). Similar to alpine glaciers, enhanced basal sliding in and others, 2009; Van den Broeke and others, 2009). Both in the GrIS has been shown to continue as long as meltwater situ GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) production exceeds subglacial transmission capacity, creat- satellite observations in the western ablation zone of the ing conditions of positive net water storage in the subglacial GrIS demonstrate a distinct annual ice velocity cycle, in environment (Colgan and others, 2011). During the melt which peak velocities are observed during the summer melt season, conduits enlarge by melting from the frictional season (Zwally and others, 2002; Joughin and others, 2008; heating of the flowing water, which allows the subglacial Bartholomew and others, 2010; Colgan and others, 2011). hydrologic system to evolve to accommodate larger melt- On daily and seasonal timescales, higher surface velocities water fluxes later in the melt season (Ro¨thlisberger, 1972; have been attributed to enhanced basal sliding, which Hock and Hooke, 1993). As a result, a transition occurs mid- occurs when meltwater input exceeds the transmission melt season as the subglacial transmission capacity exceeds capacity of the subglacial hydrologic network (Iken and meltwater input, and water is efficiently drained via low- others, 1983; Anderson and others, 2004; Shepherd and pressure channels (Cutler, 1998; Bartholomew and others, others, 2009; Bartholomew and others, 2010). 2010). Overlaid on this seasonal meltwater pattern is a diurnal meltwater input cycle, resulting in a daily cycle in which input exceeds transmission capacity (Schoof, 2010). 1.1. Glacier hydrology This cycle drives localized uplift and enhanced basal sliding Strong diurnal and seasonal variations in meltwater produc- in the GrIS several hours after peak surface meltwater pro- tion imply that the englacial and subglacial hydrologic duction in the late afternoon (Shepherd and others, 2009). networks are seldom in steady state, but rather constantly This is followed by a surface lowering and subsequent adjusting to changing input volumes (Hock and Hooke, decrease in ice velocity, presumably as the meltwater input 1993; Cutler, 1998; Bartholomaus and others, 2008). At the volume falls below the efficiency of the subglacial hydro- beginning of the melt season, meltwater is delivered to a logic network (Shepherd and others, 2009). quiescent subglacial hydrologic network, which has largely The cumulative effect of enhanced diurnal and seasonal closed during the winter through creep closure (Nye, 1953). velocities is an increase in total annual ice displacement, the As a result of initial meltwater input exceeding subglacial magnitude of which is positively correlated with modeled transmission capacity, subglacial water pressure increases, meltwater production (Zwally and others, 2002). The sea- driving water into a distributed cavity network beneath the sonal acceleration is most significant (50% increase above McGrath and others: Summer water budget of a moulin basin 955 mean annual ice velocity) in land-terminating regions of the thus meltwater drainage per crevasse is substantially smaller ice sheet, and less significant (10–15% increase) in outlet than for moulins, which typically drain a well-developed glaciers, where velocity is more directly related to changes catchment basin. Under-appreciated components of the in back-stress at the tidewater terminus (Howat and others, supraglacial hydrologic system are the widespread smaller 2005; Joughin and others, 2008). Observations show that ice (5–90 cm) surface and englacial cracks, which we refer to as velocities in the ablation zone respond quickly to short-term ‘fractures’ to differentiate them from typical crevasses. These changes in meltwater production, although significant fractures are observed to persist to depths of 70 m and uncertainty exists in predicting how the GrIS hydrology typically have near-vertical orientations, with surface ex- system evolves over decadal and longer timescales to pressions that are not preferentially aligned with flow changing volumes of meltwater. One study finds no long- direction. Borehole observations in temperate glaciers term (decadal) increase in mean annual ice velocity despite suggest that surface fractures penetrate to significant depth significant seasonal melt-driven accelerations occurring (130 m), consisting of near-vertical (708) features 0.3– during a 17 year period (Van de Wal and others, 2008). 20 cm wide (Fountain and others, 2005). Water flow has The apparently conflicting nature of these observations been observed to be slow (1–2 cm s–1) in these fractures, but highlights the uncertainty in this aspect of ice-sheet they frequently intersect other fractures, suggesting glaciers evolution and certainly warrants long-term observations in may be analogous to ‘fractured rock-type aquifers’ with high order to develop a unifying explanation. hydraulic conductivity (Fountain and others, 2005; Colgan The supraglacial hydrologic cycle is most pronounced and others, 2011). Fountain and Walder (1998) suggest that along the marginal zone of the GrIS where the relatively in temperate glaciers the majority of water storage occurs in high surface slope (2–58), complex surface topography and the englacial, rather than subglacial, hydrologic system. The relatively high ablation rates differ substantially from the vast englacial system likely consists of a combination of well- interior accumulation zone. Melting of snow and glacier ice connected and discrete voids and fractures, which together in the ablation zone produces water that flows across the ice create a bulk macroporosity of 0.1–10% (Pohjola, 1994; surface, developing supraglacial streams, which can drain Harper and Humphrey, 1995; Huss and others, 2007). into surface depressions to form supraglacial lakes or drain Observations of bubble-free blue-ice bands, both at the directly into moulins (Box and Ski, 2007). Meltwater can surface (exposed as the surface ablates) and at depth with also drain into crevasses or smaller fractures, where it may borehole cameras, suggest that meltwater stored in the seasonally refreeze (Catania and others, 2008). Supraglacial englacial system frequently refreezes (Pohjola, 1994; Harper streams evolve from interconnected runnels into an arbor- and Humphrey, 1995). escent network on the ice surface, incising through thermal erosion at a rate that exceeds the surface ablation rate (Knighton, 1981; Marston, 1983). On account of the latent 2. FIELD SITE energy contained in liquid water, even modest water The site of this investigation is a supraglacial catchment basin temperatures (0.005–0.018C) can result in channel incision in the Sermeq Avannarleq ablation zone on the western flank rates of 3.8–5.8 cm d–1 (Pinchak, 1972; Marston, 1983). of the GrIS, 6 km from the ice margin (Fig. 1). Mean surface Meltwater lakes are a common feature of the GrIS ablation rate is 1.65
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